I'm super new at stretching. I went from an 18g [what I was pierced at when I was in elementary school and I'm 24 now so definitely not too soon] to a 16g. No pain at the time of stretching whatsoever. I had my tapers and plugs cleaned with antibacterial soap, waited until after a warm shower, massaged my ears and used plenty of vitamin E oil when I put the tapers through. It was fairly easy and completely painless but I still gave it a few minutes before switching to the plugs. There was no tearing, not even any discomfort and I've been washing them with mild, antibacterial soap daily. All of a sudden, three days later, my left ear started to bleed?

I don't know what I did wrong or what could have caused it. Especially with the amount of time between the stretch and the start of the bleeding. Any ideas?